Dr Giulia Silvani

Dr Giulia Silvani is a Scientia Lecturer in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at UNSW Sydney, where she leads an interdisciplinary research program at the intersection of biomedical engineering, biomaterials and mechanobiology.

Her research focuses on understanding how cells sense and adapt to their physical microenvironment, with particular emphasis on cancer progression, vascular biology and responses to altered gravity. By combining advanced biomaterials, microfluidic technologies and human-derived microphysiological systems (organ-on-chip), she develops physiologically relevant experimental platforms to investigate cellular behaviour, disease mechanisms and therapeutic responses.

A central focus of her work is glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her team engineers vascularised tumour models that recreate key features of the brain microenvironment, enabling the investigation of tumour invasion, vascular interactions and drug delivery. In parallel, her research explores how altered gravitational conditions influence cellular mechanotransduction and vascular function, contributing to the development of experimental platforms for space biology and biomedical research.

Dr Silvani holds a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Sapienza University of Rome and has secured competitive research funding from the Australian Research Council, the Charlie Teo Foundation and other institutional funding schemes. Her work bridges fundamental mechanistic discovery with translational applications, bringing together expertise across engineering, materials science, cancer biology and space research.

Through interdisciplinary collaborations, she aims to advance human-relevant experimental models that improve our understanding of disease and accelerate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.